Plenary Sessions

Opening Plenary
Monday, Dec. 14, 2015

CLIFFORD LYNCH
Executive Director, Coalition for Networked Information

OVERVIEW of the 2015-16 CNI PROGRAM PLAN

Closing Plenary
Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015

Transparency, Trust, and Consumer Protection
in a Complex World

JULIE BRILL
Federal Trade Commission

In a world that is becoming increasingly complex and data-intensive, trust is becoming ever more important. If consumers do not trust organizations and the systems that they use to collect, analyze, and use their personal data, consumers may reject technologies that could offer significant social and individual benefits.  Transparency is a key element of building and maintaining consumer trust.  Providing effective transparency, however, is a challenge for companies that are developing new connected devices and apps and predictive analytics services.  Using a series of illustrations based on the Internet of Things and big data analytics, Commissioner Brill will discuss strategies for providing transparency in our interconnected, complex world, with a particular focus on the roles that researchers and consumer protection agencies like the Federal Trade Commission in putting these strategies into practice.

Julie Brill was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission April 6, 2010. Commissioner Brill has been named “the Commission’s most important voice on Internet privacy and data security issues,” “a key player in U.S. and global regulations,” “one of the top minds in online privacy,” one of the top four U.S. government players “leading the data privacy debate,” and a “game-changer.”

Commissioner Brill has received numerous national awards for her work, including the International Association of Privacy Professionals Privacy Leader of the Year Award, and the New York University School of Law Alumna of the Year Award. Commissioner Brill was recently elected to the American Law Institute.

Commissioner Brill served as an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for over 20 years. She also was a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University’s School of Law. She clerked for Vermont Federal District Court Judge Franklin S. Billings, Jr. Commissioner Brill graduated, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, and from New York University School of Law, where she had a Root-Tilden Scholarship for her commitment to public service.

Presentation